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Answered

It means that the auction is a reserve auction that has a price that the item must reach before it is eligible for sale. As long as the bids are below the reserve price, the auction will show "reserve not met". Once the bidding goes to the reserve price the message goes away and the auction continues as normal.

Answered

It means that nobody has entered a bid (including any hidden maximum bid) that is at least as high as the reserve amount. If you have already bid as much as you are willing to pay for that item and it is still "Reserve not met", it is safe tor you to move on to another source for the item (unlike simply being outbid, where you are obligated to the item until the auction ends without you as the winner since a higher bid might be cancelled before the end) since you cannot win that auction with the maximum bid you have placed. If you do bid enough to meet the reserve, the "current bid" will immediately "jump up" to the reserve amount without needing an underbid to push it up to there.